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Intel plans to apply its focus on silicon innovation and open platforms to the digital home in order to help create a new era of consumer electronics - allowing individuals to have access to digital content anytime, anywhere, on any device. The company is augmenting its product-related activities with a $200 million digital home fund. Announced last week, the Intel Digital Home Fund will invest in companies that complement Intel products and accelerate development of key technologies and content which enhance and simplify the digital home experience. The fund will be an important component of the company's strategic investment programme known as Intel Capital.
In addition to this substantial investment, Intel will apply its wireless expertise and ability as a silicon innovator to develop new technologies for consuming and managing digital content. Examples include the company's development work on a device called the Entertainment PC - a slim form factor PC connected to a television screen. Entertainment PCs can be used to organise, consume and enjoy digital content such as music, movies, TV programming, gaming and high-definition video. The devices will be capable of sharing content wirelessly and operated with a remote control instead of a keyboard. They will include a TV tuner and act as digital media adapter with a silent fan and consumer audio and video connections. Entertainment PCs, which can also serve as wireless network access points, are expected to be available mid-year from a variety of PC manufacturers and sell for less than $800.
Other innovative technologies include the company's Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) capability, designed to dramatically improve the appearance of large-screen displays at lower cost. Code-named Cayley, Intel's LCOS technology is expected to be available in large-screen displays as early as this year. The displays are anticipated to decline in cost to achieve price points of less than $2 000 next year.
The company is also providing fundamental technology for advanced set-top boxes, digital imaging devices, portable media players, digital media adapters and other devices that provide increased power, flexibility and choice in the way digital content is enjoyed.
In order to ensure consumers can take advantage of the silicon technology Intel is delivering, the company is helping lead the development of open industry specifications that will be essential to sharing content across multiple consumer devices. Intel's role as a founding member of the Digital Home Working Group -- which includes the PC industry, content providers and the consumer electronics industry -- will help drive technology specifications for the benefit of consumers.
In another example of industry cooperation, the development of Digital Transmission Content Protection over Internet Protocol (DTCP/IP) technology by Intel and other companies will enable home users to wirelessly share protected entertainment content among a variety of devices in the home. Through collaboration with content providers such as Warner Brothers and others, this technology is likely to be a cornerstone to expanding digital home entertainment.


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SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - Technology giant Apple Inc and car maker Volkswagen AG were singled out by state-run China Central Television (CCTV) in its annual corporate malpractice expose.
On its "3.15" investigative special aired late on Friday, CCTV said that Chinese customers were not given the same post-sales service from Apple as it gave to users in other markets.
The report also said that the direct shift gearbox (DSG) transmission, a long-standing issue for Volkswagen, was causing cars to speed up or slow down during driving.
Volkswagen, which plans to almost double production capacity in China to 4 million cars in the next five years, promised action in response to the "3:15" show, whose name refers to the date of World Consumer Rights Day.
"We take this report very seriously and we will quickly make contact with our consumers to resolve the issue," it said on its official Chinese Weibo microblog.
Apple officials in China and Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, were not immediately available for comment.
The television show has named and shamed a number of prominent Western companies in the past, hitting the sales and stocks of its targets in a retail market that is forecast to be the world's largest in three years.
Last year "3:15", one of the most widely watched in China, singled out fast food giant McDonald's Corp and French hypermarket chain Carrefour SA for food safety violations.
The companies were forced to apologise and their shares slumped as China's army of half a billion microbloggers unleashed their anger online.
US retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and South Korea's Kunho Tire Co Inc have also previously been blasted by state TV on Consumer Rights Day.
In December, a separate state television report triggered a food safety scare at Yum Brands Inc. restaurants, cutting its China same-restaurant sales by 20 per cent in January and February.
Chinese companies have also not been spared.
Public concern about food safety, pollution and corporate corruption has intensified over the last few years, after state media exposed malpractice at local firms including web search engine Baidu Inc and milk producer Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co.
"These TV exposes create the impression that you can't trust that brand," said Mr Torsten Stocker, head of Greater China consumer practice at Monitor Deloitte. "If there's some smoke then maybe there's much bigger fire."
In a bid to pre-empt any negative publicity on Consumer Rights Day, some companies launched customer-friendly promotions ahead of the TV show.
McDonald's will give out free breakfasts on Monday and Wal-mart launched an "adopt-a-tree" campaign.

domain: news


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After 42 years, the East Village’s legendary Pyramid Club has closed permanently, as was first reported by EV Grieve. The club at 101 Avenue A is “credited with creating the East Village drag and gay scenes of the 1980s, launching a new politically-conscious form of drag performance art in the early 1980s,” according to Andrew Berman of Village Preservation, and is the place where celebrated performers such as Lady Bunny and RuPaul got their start. The Pyramid Club has remained closed since the pandemic began, as nightclubs were never permitted to reopen until now, but the burden of the past year made the owners decide to shut down for good.
Big Gay Ice Cream’s first brick-and-mortar location has permanently closed, as EV Grieve reported on Thursday. The East Village store at 125 East 7th Street opened its doors in 2011 after operating as an ice cream truck for two years. According to the neighborhood blog, the store has been closed since Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus pandemic “pause” order in March and now a for-rent sign hangs in the window.
Listing photos courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens
Fashion model and Lucchese designer Erin Wasson and her husband, restaurateur Bart Tassy, have put their East Village loft on the market for $2,650,000. Located at 175 East 2nd Street, between Avenues A and B, the 1,500-square-foot home has incredible beamed ceilings, exposed beams and brick, and two beautiful skylights. There’s also a 1,400-square-foot private roof deck with views as far as the Financial District and Chrysler Building. The couple bought the unit for $1,650,000 in 2006 and listed it as a $10,000/month rental in 2017.
All photos courtesy of Gem Spa
While you can no longer order an egg cream at Gem Spa in the East Village, which closed its doors for good in May, you can own a piece of the legendary institution. The landmark newsstand, which has been located on the corner of St. Marks Place and Second Avenue for a century, is auctioning off iconic memorabilia and signage from the store, including its bright yellow storefront sign, egg cream equipment, and gates with designs by the artist Paul Kostabi. The auction has been extended to January 7 at 10 p.m.
All photos © James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft
Tucked away on East 11th Street between First and Second Avenues is a small rubber stamp shop, which, according to the small sign in its window, is “closed when not open” and “open when not closed.” Casey Rubber Stamps is filled from floor to ceiling with rubber stamps that have all been handmade by John Casey and his two team members. John Casey is originally from Cork, Ireland and first founded his shop in 1979 on Seventh Avenue South in the West Village. He moved the shop to the East Village 19 years ago but still makes his stamps the old-school way with a negative, a plate, and a mold process that is both more time consuming and expensive than newer methods involving liquid polymer materials or laser cutting. Ahead, go behind the scenes to see how all the amazing rubber stamps are made, tour the interior and workspace, and learn about the shop’s history from John Casey.
The bar on opening day, courtesy of Finnerty’s
Considered New York City’s unofficial San Francisco sports bar, Finnerty’s announced this morning that it’s permanently closing its East Village location. For the past 11 years, the Irish pub on Second Avenue has been a go-to spot for Giants and 49ers fans, even hosting the Giant’s World Series trophy three times. “The pandemic, along with being unable to reach an agreement with our landlord, forced our hand. There just wasn’t any way forward for us,” said Finnerty’s owners Dieter Seelig and Brian Stapleton.
When Veselka first opened on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 9th Street in 1954, the business was a small candy shop and newspaper stand. Sixty-years later, and the Ukrainian restaurant serves up 21,000 pierogis, 2,500 latkes, and 110 gallons of borscht each week. That is until the pandemic hit. In September, owner Tom Birchard spoke about how the restaurant was struggling. But thanks to a dedicated customer base filling its heated sidewalk seating and indoor tables, as well as a growing delivery and national shipping arm, Veselka is expanding to the space next door, as was first reported by EV Grieve. The addition will be complete with a new “sushi bar-style counter that will showcase the restaurant’s pierogi-making process,” according to the New York Times.
Mayor Bill de Blasio celebrated the Phase 2 reopening with a visit to Astor Place Hairstylists on June 23, 2020. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
Just two days before it was set to close for good, Astor Place Hairstylists was saved by a group of New York investors. As the New York Post first reported, enough money has been raised to keep the East Village basement barbershop “open for at least another 75 years,” businessman Jonathan Trichter told the newspaper on Monday. Astor Place Hairstylists announced last month plans to permanently close just before Thanksgiving due to a lack of business because of the coronavirus pandemic.
All photos courtesy of Travis Mark for Sotheby’s International Realty
No detail was overlooked in the design of this two-bedroom home in the East Village. From the custom chef’s kitchen to the walls of built-in shelving and storage, the apartment at 170 Second Avenue manages to be extremely efficient without sacrificing sophistication. Currently asking $2.995 million, the apartment sits on the 12th floor of a pre-war co-op that was completed in 1928.
Photo by Peter Cooper
The Public Theater will debut this week a new art installation that honors Black American lives lost to police brutality. Starting November 11, the facade of the East Village theater will display “SAY THEIR NAMES,” a visual exhibit that includes at least 2,200 names of Black people killed at the hands of police between 2013 and 2020. Curated by Garlia Cornelia Jones, the projection covers the entire building at 425 Lafayette and features work by ten artists.


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Mio Global will be bringing its heart rate monitors and watches, including the Mio Fuse, Alpha 2 and Link, to the country via an exclusive partnership with Amazon.in.Fitness wearable major Mio Global has struck an exclusive partnership deal with Amazon India to offer its complete line of innovative products in Indian market.The starting price of Mio Products is Rs 6,599. Now, consumers in India will be able to create personalized fitness goals that not only support their fitness and health, but also help them track their progress and performance with top-tier accuracy, Mio Global said in a statement.
Commenting on the matter, Liz Dickinson, CEO, Mio Global said, “We are very excited that our performance wearable products are now offered in India.”India holds huge potential for Mio Global, as the country is moving towards a more health-conscious and fitness-focued society as a whole.
Meanwhile, talking about the partnership, Samir Kumar, Vice-President, Amazon India, said, “We are excited to bring Mio’s full line of fitness wearable tech products for our customers in India. With rising health awareness in India, customers across the country can now order Mio’s heart rate monitors and watches exclusively on Amazon.in and have it delivered to their doorsteps fast and reliably.”
A number of start-ups focussing on fitness and health have entered India over the past year, such as FitBit, GOQii and Jawbone, among others. Apart from these, major names like Sony, Samsung, YU and Xiaomi have also entered this space.


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Ambode’s Rally: Oba Of Lagos Allegedly Orders Idumota Market To Be Shut Down
by Deji Abiodun
If the reports from Lagos are correct, Obviously the Oba of Lagos wasn’t joking when he threatened igbos in Lagos over the candidacy of Akinwumi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Reports this morning from Lagos reveals that hundreds of shop owners, especially Igbos, were yesterday forced to shut their shops at the Idumota Market, Lagos Island and marketers ordered to attend a rally in honour of Akinwunmi Ambode
The Lagos monarch who had last week threatened the Igbos, is alleged to have ordered the closure of the market, the business hub for majority of the Igbos in Lagos who sell at Idumota market ..
One of the traders said was quoted to have said: “We arrived Idumota market as early as 8 am. Shortly after, some thugs came, ordering us to shut our shops on the orders of Oba Akiolu.
Campaigning for Ambode, the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday described Lagos State as too important for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to lose to the opposition.
Speaking at a rally in Orile area of the state, Buhari said, “Defy all elements, whatever it may be, and vote for APC from top to bottom,” he said.
Don’t attempt to be on the wrong side of the centre because we are now the centre. Tell your neighbours, your relatives and even the opposition party to please bury the hatchet and fall in line and vote for APC,” he said.


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He’s a one-man stimulus package!
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending so much money on television spots across the country that it’s causing ad rates to soar, a new analysis shows.
“The typical [TV] market increased their rates by 22 percent as the political spending poured in,” an Advertising Analytics analysis found.
“Houston was among the markets that responded most actively to the new advertiser,” it added. “This is partially attributable to Bloomberg’s $1 [million] buy increasing the political spending in the market tenfold. This shock spending increase was matched by a 45% increase in rates, which is among the highest of any market.”


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Apple Tops Best Global Brands Ranking Yet Again, Here’s The Full List
Interbrand, one of the world’s leading and most recognized brand consultancies, has just released its Best Global Brands list for 2014, and there’s no prizes for guessing who sits on top of the rankings.
The annually compiled list exists to provide an extremely quick overview of the world’s top 100 brands based on monetary brand value, with this year’s list once again seeing tech companies dominating the top five. If you hadn’t guessed it, Cupertino based Apple is sitting comfortably at the top of the list with change in brand value equivalent to a rise of 21% over the last twelve months.
The 2014 edition of the Best Global Brands list is once again filled with prospering technology companies, more than holding their own against some of the world’s largest retail brands, such as Amazon, Gillette, and IKEA. Sitting at the top of the corporate food chain is Apple Inc. with a published brand value of $118.8 billion. As previously mentioned, that value represents a substantial increase of 21% from the same time last year. Following hot on Apple’s heels with a brand value of $107 billion is Google with an estimated value increase of 15% over the last twelve months.
In addition to Apple and Google there are top ten places in the rankings for IMB, Microsoft, Samsung, and General Electric, which although is technically classed as a diversified company still does have a strong technology focus. If you take the time to look past those companies that are sitting comfortably in the top ten then you’ll also find Intel with a brand value of $34.2 billion, Cisco with a brand increase of 6%, and Oracle sitting in sixteenth place with a brand value of almost $26 billion thanks to an 8% rise year-on-year.
The featured technology companies are clearly going from strength-to-strength in a competitive market place, but it makes the achievement even more admirable when you consider that they have out-valued brands such as Coca-Cola, Disney, BMW and even fast food chain McDonald’s.
Tim Cook’s Apple may have been the focal point of a lot of criticism over the last few years, but it would seem the introduction of the iPhone 6, along with the announcement of the Apple Watch and the company’s mission to “get rid of the wallet” with Apple Pay has put the company in an extremely competitive and strong position.


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When Kensington's chef hangout Chairman Mao closed last year, fans of its Hunanese food were understandably concerned. The good news is it's back, and we're getting two for the price of one.
Chairman Mao owners Andrew Bao and Dingjun Li have opened Mrs. Ding in Botany, with another restaurant on the way in April.
Chairman Mao was originally slated to reopen at Potts Point, but following COVID delays its owners have decided to instead snap up a space near Hyde Park, where Lotus Dining Group's Madame Shanghai previously traded.
Andrew Bao confirmed they will drop Mao from its name, which he maintains "is too political". When it opens next month it'll be named The Chairman. The new restaurant will be more upmarket than its Botany sibling Mrs Ding, with more seafood on the menu.
The original Chairman restaurant built its reputation on its signature braised pork belly – which one reviewer described as "so indulgently wobbly it melts off your chopsticks" – and Mrs Ding includes it on a menu with no fewer than 12 pork dishes.
The hot, sour and spicy Hunan-style menu also sweeps other meats, with plenty of vegetable and noodle dishes as well.
Bao says Mrs. Ding is attracting a mix of Botany locals and Chairman Mao regulars, with the chicken and cashew an early favourite.
Open Lunch and dinner Tue-Sun.
Shop 1-2, 1366 Botany Road, Botany, 02 9131 8486, mrsding.com.au
Continue this seriesApril 2022 hit list: Where to eat and drink in Sydney this month
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Performers at Super Bowl halftime shows don't get paid, but really, they don't need to: the resulting increase in record sales more than makes up for their time. Take Bruno Mars, for example. Following his blockbuster performance at the big game this past Sunday, sales of his current album have soared.
Bruno's performance, which featured a string of hits plus an appearance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was the most watched halftime show in history, drawing more than 115 million viewers. Now, Billboard reports that his album Unorthodox Jukebox appears to have experienced a 164 percent sales increase since Sunday. On the chart that's being released today, the album is expected to return to the top 10 for the first time since September.
Bruno's album had already experienced a sales bump thanks to the Grammy Awards; though he didn't perform, he was shown on camera accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Billboard points out that the Super Bowl's effect on album sales this year will be unique, because unlike every solo artist who's ever headlined halftime in the modern era -- let's say from 1993 on, when Michael Jackson did it -- he only has two albums. In previous years, veteran acts experienced sales increases across their entire catalogs, but this year, the entire impact will be felt on Unorthodox Jukebox, Doo-Wops and Hooligans and Bruno's singles.
Beyonce, who performed last year, did not have a current album out at the time. Following her performance, sales of her then most recent album, 2011's 4, increased by 123 percent.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio


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The PaySpace Magazine Awards Gala evening at the Khreschatyk Grand Hall (Kyiv, Ukraine) this week was the biggest and best yet. Ukrainians have their say this year casting almost seventy thousand votes for their favourite fintech companies and experts celebrated the 63 winners from the more than 189 entries.
This year, for the first time, awards were granted in 21 categories. PayCore.io was nominated in two categories but brought home the Bronze Award in the Best TechFin Project category. This category impressed the judges with the quality of entries and ensured it will be included in the category list again next year. Masterpass digital wallet offered by Mastercard has received the shiny Gold Award. Corezoid was conferred with the Silver Award.
This year the recipient of the International Fintech Expert of the Year Awards is Chris Skinner, internationally renowned author, leading commentator and strategist on the financial markets. The other big winners of the night were Mike Chobanyan, who won the Gold Award in the Best Cryptocurrency Expert; Igor Berezanskyi, who won the Gold Award in the conferred Fintech Expert of the Year.
An enormous salute to all of this year’s nominees each of whom have made incredible contributions to the Ukrainian fintech community.


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A German CBD oil manufacturer has launched three products at one of Germany’s main drugstore chains.
The products include two full-spectrum CBD nutritional supplements at concentrations of 2.75% and 5% and a topical sport recovery gel.
Frank Otto, CannaCare Health’s majority shareholder, credited the company’s extensive testing and certification process with the ROSSMANN deal.
Germany’s Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) clarified its stance on CBD in March 2019, saying anyone manufacturing a food product containing CBD must apply for novel food authorization before the products are placed on the market.
One month later, ROSSMANN and competitor drugstore dm removed select CBD products from their shelves, with both confirming the move to German magazine Stern.
ROSSMANN spokeswoman Laura Förster declined to respond to questions about the decision to carry CANOBO, citing “competitively sensitive information” in an email to Hemp Industry Daily.


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A current tight supply of graphics chips seems to have extended from the high-end to include mainstream models, with graphics-card makers using chips from ATI Technologies affected more seriously than makers that use chips from Nvidia, according to Taiwan graphics-card makers.
The entire line of ATI graphics chips are currently in tight supply, and the shortage is not expected to ease for another one or two weeks, the sources noted.
Graphics-card makers that focus their sales on the channel are likely to suffer considerably more from the shortage since graphics-chip makers usually give supply priority to OEM makers, the sources said.
Demand for our chips continues to outpace supply, and this is the main reason for the shortage, explained Billy Wang, vice president for Asia Pacific and China at ATI.
Wang also admitted that OEM makers are able to secure graphics-chip volumes that could have been shipped to the channel, so ATI's channel partners may suffer from the volume shift.
Graphics-card maker Tul, which uses chips from ATI, had originally hoped to see its October revenues clear NT$900 million but has now said that it may not be able to achieve its goal, due to the shortage. Tul had record revenues of NT$853.1 million in September.
Sources at Edom Technology, a sales agent for Nvidia graphics chips in Taiwan, said, however, that the shortage of Nvidia graphics chips was not so serious, and that the impact on Taiwan graphics-card makers will be limited.
Leadtek Research, which uses graphics chips from Nvidia, said its shipments will not be affected by the tight supply, and the company expects its revenues will fall between NT$950 million and NT$1 billion in October, which would surpass its record sales of NT$810.6 million in September.


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The newest episode of “As told by Emoji” from Disney returns to one of the classics – Cinderella. Of course with Emoji, the cuteness factor is dialed up to 9.
Join emoji-fied versions of Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, Gus, the Wicked Stepmother, and more as they retell one of Disney’s most timeless stories.
I found that to be one of the more creative emoji retelling of Disney animation stories.
Created by the team at Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, the As Told By Emoji series has released seven episodes to-date, reaching more than 80 million views and has been translated into 25 languages.
This episode premieres in celebration of the news that all 11 Disney Princess films are being made available to bring home at the same time, Sept. 6 – Oct. 17, for the first time ever. For nearly 80 years, audiences have followed the dreams and magical adventures of Disney Princesses including Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel and Merida. The timeless tales that introduced the world to these inspirational heroines include “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Tangled,” “Cinderella,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Princess and the Frog,” “Brave,” “Pocahontas,” and “Mulan.” And now, for the first time ever, all 11 of these timeless family favorites will be available to purchase during the same six-week window.
Which will you be adding to your library?


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Bump, whose self-named and Flock apps let mobile users share files such as business cards and photos by bumping their phones together, confirmed the purchase on a blog post yesterday (16 September).
Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, several media reports citing sources briefed on the purchase peg the deal at the $40m mark.
Bump was one of the early successful apps to reach a high-profile status in the early days of the app economy boom, (see video, above) however it is largely deemed to have struggled to capitalise on its early popularity.
Google has yet to publicly comment on how it will integrate the Bump team into its fold but the purchase of Bump, which uses cloud-based computing to share files, will offer Google a potential technology alternative to near field communications (NFC).
The online services giant has backed NFC heavily over the last two years, as a payments, loyalty and potential advertising technology, since the launch of its Google Wallet initiative in 2011, but this has yet to achieve mass market traction.
The purchase also comes a week after arch-rival Apple, which has thus-far steadfastly refused to include NFC in any of its devices, announced its own contactless file-sharing service AirDrop which also lets users share files over-the-air, as part of its upcoming iOS7 update (see video).


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The business view: Should pharmacists be optimistic about the future? Contractors will face continued threats from online competitors and...
EXCLUSIVE The government "piling" financial hardships onto contractors by preventing them from claiming back statutory sick pay, a finance expert...
Category M clawbacks are set to soar more than fivefold in April, hitting the average contractor by more than £800 a month, C+D has learned....
Category M clawbacks are set to fall by 60 per cent this quarter, but they will be "nonetheless painful" for contractors struggling to maintain...
The latest category M clawbacks will hit the average pharmacy by roughly £700 a month, an accountant has warned. The clawback of £40 million...
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Chinese wealth product market drops
Following the introduction of laws regulating the Chinese retail bank wealth management market, new research suggests China's burgeoning wealth product market is in decline.
According to Chengdu-based research firm Cnbenefit, bank issuance of wealth management products dropped 8.8 per cent in April from March, with average yield dropping from 4.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The new rules mandate that retail wealth management product providers must reduce the share of products invested in “illiquid assets” to 35 per cent of offering or 4 per cent of toal assets.
China Banking Regulatory Commission data shows that the mainland Chinese wealth management market has grown exponentially, growing from virtually zero a few years ago to 7.1 trillion yuan (US$ 1.2 trillion) at the end of 2012.
Industry Super blasts ANU SG research
Industry Super Australia has slammed the recent ANU study questioning the need f...
Rate cuts ravage consumer confidence: Deloitte
The RBA’s successive rate cuts have led to “cratered” consumer confidence ...
More advisers considering crypto: Bitwise
More financial advisers are considering allocating to cryptocurrencies, despite ...


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The Mallard pub, Worksop Railway Station, Carlton Road, received the top accolade on Thursday 19th March.
The pub has now won the award six times in the last 14 years.
Steve Bownes made the presentation at the event which was attended by customers and members of the North Notts CAMRA.
Landlord, Wayne Cadman, said: “I am very grateful to gain the award and I would like to thank all my staff for their hard work and all our customers for their support.”
Starbucks opens new cafe in Worksop Sainsbury’s
Bodycam footage shows police breaking into hot car to free distressed dog stuck in high temperatures
Line-up revealed for fundraiser music event in memory of popular Worksop teacher
Vintage phone box turns into Bassetlaw village library and book exchange
Worksop’s summer beach to make a return to Old Market Square
CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale is an independent, voluntary organisation campaigning for real ale, community pubs and consumer rights.
CAMRA was formed in March 1971 by four men from the north-west who were said to be ‘disillusioned’ by the domination of the UK beer market by a handful of companies pushing products of ‘low flavour’ and overall quality onto the consumer.
Send you stories to [email protected]


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The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors announced Aug. 24 that it has hired international business strategist and trade association leader Dianna Steinbach as its chief strategy officer, effective Aug. 15.
Steinbach is an organizational, industry and strategy expert with more than 25 years of experience helping trade associations and business owners identify new trends, strategically plan, develop business alliances, connect with customers and position themselves for success.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dianna to the NAW executive team. She is mission-focused and brings incredible talent, experience and foresight to our organization,” said Eric Hoplin, NAW CEO. “Dianna will deepen our relationship with our members and help us lead in industry excellence and strategic growth.”
NAW noted that Steinbach brings extensive experience managing international associations as well as for-profit industry and event entities. Her background includes membership, operations and events in the U.S., Africa, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Thailand, Russia and the United Kingdom.
Most recently, Steinbach was vice president of international services for worldwide cleaning industry association ISSA. While at ISSA, Steinbach regularly worked with distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers to strengthen sales, maintain innovative operations and drive strategic supply-chain and customer relationships. Steinbach began her career as a business journalist with the Associated Press and as an editor for trade publication Sanitary Maintenance magazine, focused on the needs of distributors operating in the commercial cleaning industry.
“Building a roadmap of success for NAW and our members is my top priority,” Steinbach said. “Together we will deliver world-class programming, advocacy and innovation offerings and help our members to lead, disrupt and advance the next frontier in wholesale-distribution.”
Steinbach is the programming chair and board member for the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE). She also is a faculty member for the Membership Marketing School, author of the International Congress and Conventions Association (ICCA) certification chapter on Quality Assurance and a past member of the IBTM World Association Leaders Forum Advisory Board.
Steinbach regularly speaks and writes about association management topics, including for groups such as American Society for Association Executives, ESAE, ICCA, Dubai Association Forum, UFI Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, IMEX Association Focus Conference and more.


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Credit card companies have long been accused of using deception in their marketing practices, which many believe contributed to the recent recession. This has caused outrage from consumers who feel they were misled. Many people in Texas and elsewhere are still suffering from overwhelming credit card debt as a result of underhanded tactics. One credit card company, Capital One Financial Corp., will be forced to answer for these unfair practices by paying $210 million to settle a major lawsuit.
The case was filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created via the Dodd-Frank Act. The bureau was created to oversee consumer financial products. In this case, the bureau worked with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in order to work out a settlement deal with Capital One. The bank has agreed to pay between $140 million to $150 million in restitution to 2 million customers. It has also promised to pay $60 million in fines, even though the bank did not admit to nor deny any wrongdoing.
One of the deceptive practices involved misleading consumers about the need to add on additional financial products when they opened or activated their credit cards. These products included services such as payment protection and credit monitoring. The charges allege that the bank pressured consumers to buy the products, suggesting that they were required and not simply optional.
These additional financial products caused consumers to rack up unnecessary service charges and fees which only added to the overwhelming credit card debt that led many consumers to fall into serious financial troubles. The restitution payments will certainly help many people in Texas with their financial situations. However, for some this may not be enough, and some may turn to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing to discharge credit card and other forms of debt.
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, "Capital One to Pay $210 Million in First CFPB Enforcement," Carter Dougherty and Dakin Campbell, July 18, 2012


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The mass-market beauty company had $96.8 million in sales for the first half of 2016.
Rights groups applaud the decision as a victory for individual and religious freedom.
A small team of designers based in New York will focus on Gap?s European collections, and will report to Patrick Robinson.
As if Diane von Furstenberg didn’t already have enough on her plate, she’s adding a new role: columnist for Departures magazine.
Those who went to Steven Klein’s Bridgehampton house on Saturday night in hopes of seeing “honorary chairperson” Madonna would have been disappointed.
Justin Timberlake will have not one, but two shows during New York Fashion Week.
Revlon Inc.’s board of directors has elected fashion executive Tamara Mellon as a new director.


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Trimble Buying Google's SketchUp 3D Modeling Platform
Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SketchUp®, one of the most popular 3D modeling tools in the world, from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012, subject to customary closing conditions and expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. While financial terms are not being disclosed the transaction is not expected to be material to 2012 earnings per share.
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Networking hardware vendor TP-Link today admitted violating US radio frequency rules by selling routers that could operate at power levels higher than their approved limits. In a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, TP-Link agreed to pay a $200,000 fine, comply with the rules going forward, and to let customers install open source firmware on routers.
LG announced it’s launching the V20 in September, making it the first smartphone to come out of the box with Android 7.0 Nougat.
There are plenty of companies vying for a piece of the worldwide cloud infrastructure market, but the top four -- all in the U.S. -- currently dominate by such a wide margin as to effectively leave their competitors in the dust.
That's the overriding conclusion of a study released Monday by Synergy Research Group, which provides quarterly market tracking and segmentation data, including vendor revenues by segment and region.
It's 2016 and hacking is all around us. What was a pastime for curious, smart nerds became big business for the underworld, and a lucrative tool in the arsenal of nations. Everyone is hacking everyone, trying each other's defenses, constantly looking for weaknesses, for loopholes.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is refusing to discuss whether Russia had any involvement in a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee leaked to his organization ahead of the party's convention.
In an interview Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press," Assange said WikiLeaks has "a perfect track record" of providing accurate information and "never revealing our sources."


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Denver’s second Mappy Hour, on January 25, consisted of a roundtable-style discussion on modern and emerging snow tech specific to backcountry skiing. Matt Doyle of FATMAP, a 3D mapping app for outdoor adventurers, led the discussion.
The event took place at the Denver Beer Co., known for its creative craft brews like its award-winning Graham Cracker Porter.
Before we got started, we filled out the usual Mappy Hour nametags. They include three parts: your name, something you already know a lot about, and something you’d like to learn more about.
Instead of the traditional presentation-style Mappy Hour, Doyle hosted a talk that focused highly on audience participation. He posed questions like: How many people backcountry ski and for those who don’t, what are the biggest barriers? And what kind of tools do people use to plan their outdoor adventures—are they digital, analog, or a hybrid of the two?
As usual, we had the traditional #MappyHour Instagram giveaway, and the lucky winner took home some epic NatGeo maps.
This meetup will be featured on the local outdoorsy podcast Dispatch Radio. Tune in to catch up on the audio version of this month’s Mappy Hour!
Keep an eye out for the next Denver Mappy Hour, coming February 2017.


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Around the Nation
Thu April 25, 2013
Lady Bugs Protect Mall Of America's Greenery
Originally published on Fri April 26, 2013 1:46 am
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Minnesota's Mall of America is home to some 500 stores, a theme park and now some 72,000 ladybugs. Third graders released them inside the shopping center this week. Ladybugs protect the mall's 30,000 plants by eating aphids. Some mall-goers worried the bugs might descend on the food court, but a spokesman says the mall has released the ladybugs for years, and there's been no ladybug takeover yet. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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From its humble beginnings back in 1998 to one of the most used search engines on the planet. Google has made its way to billions of hearts across the globe, answering trillions of answers every year.
Today marks the 21st birthday of the website where a majority of us spend time asking questions, reading about something or learning every day.
It is Google's birthday!
Founded by Sergey Brin and Lawrence (Larry) Page in 1998, Google is recognised worldwide for its trove of knowledge and information. Here we have listed 5 facts about Silicon's valley's biggest tech giants to help you know about the search giant a little better.
Google on February 2009 tweeted for the first time on Twitter and as geeky as it could, the tweet read, "I'm 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010."
Those who are not aware of binary language, it means "I'm feeling lucky."
Tech giant operates in over 100 different languages across the globe, answering trillions of search queries every year. The scale is large, to say the least.
In order to build an online presence for women in rural areas and help their businesses kick-off, Google India in collaboration with Tata Trusts has come up with ‘Internet Saathi.’ A programme creating an impact on the lives of rural women, ‘Internet Saathi’ has helped women bring in new sources of income by learning the benefits of the internet in their day-to-day lives, Shalini Girish, Director, Google Customer Solutions, India talks about ‘Internet Saathi’ and how it’s revolutionalising SMEs in rural India.
Founded in 2008, a leading cloud-based business software provider in South East Asia, Deskera helps SMEs track accounts & finances, manage customers & hire employees. Shashank Dixit, Founder & CEO, Deskera sheds light on how SMEs are writing their success stories by improving adoption in technology.


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What is Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash is a fork of the Bitcoin core blockchain and is defined as ‘Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash’. The fork itself was decided as a result of a divide in the community between the ongoing scaling issue on the Bitcoin core blockchain. The Bitcoin Cash team state that Bitcoin Cash is in fact “fulfilling the original promise of Bitcoin”.
As Bitcoin gained increased popularity, the transactions’ started to take longer before being verified and the fees were increasing at an alarming rate. Bitcoin Cash was created in order to reduce the time it took to send transactions as well as drastically reducing the fees. Bitcoin Cash has caused somewhat of a divide in the community, there is growing speculation as to which coin (Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash) will become the main chain.
Bitcoin Cash is fully decentralized, allowing users to exchange a store of value peer-to-peer without the need of a central bank or trusted third party. When the fork initially happened on August 1st 2017, anyone who was holding Bitcoin and had control of their private keys would have received the same amount in Bitcoin Cash.
How is Bitcoin Cash different to Bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash has a larger adjustable blocksize limit, with an increased default of 8MB. This is intended to provide extra space in each of the block. This allows more transactions to be confirmed every second which is much more efficient when intended as a peer-to-peer method of exchange.
Bitcoin Cash has a new signature hash, this provides replay protection. This means that when a transaction is sent on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain it cannot be replayed on the legacy Bitcoin chain and vise versa. The new SigHash also improves hardware wallet security.
Finally there is a responsive difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA), this allows miners to migrate from the legacy Bitcoin chain while providing protection against hashrate fluctuations.
Recent cryptocurrency news
With the launch of Bitcoin futures, Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has allowed investors to associate with Bitcoin without actually buying or selling the cryptocurrency. This move marks a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency industry [...]
UBS and collaborators have worked together to produce an ethereum-based compliance solution that would improve the lives of those involved in legal and financial compliance matters. The system is dubbed the Massive Autonomous Distributed Reconciliation [...]
The Philippine government has had a lot to say on bitcoin as of late. Initially, the authorities wanted to make sure that they warned their citizens to invest responsibly. They classified digital currencies as “extremely risky [...]


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With great regret, Quaker Social Action announces that our east London furniture reuse project, Homestore, has closed permanently.
The trustees of Quaker Social Action made this decision in view of a number of factors including the difficult financial climate for charities and retail, and the multiple practical difficulties of reopening Homestore and its household furniture collection and delivery services due to covid-19. A number of options were carefully considered including mothballing or diversifying the project, but none were considered to be feasible.
Since 1989 Homestore has served over 32,000 customer households living on low incomes, helping them to furnish their homes and save an estimated £4.3 million pounds. Homestore was one of the first furniture reuse projects in London, and it remains one of the projects of which QSA is most proud.
We have contacted our Homestore customers, supporters, funders and partners with this news, and would like to take this opportunity to thank them all again for helping Homestore to have such a big impact over the past 31 years.
QSA remains passionately committed to seeking innovative ways to help people living on a low income to address the issues affecting their lives, and soon we expect to be able to announce a new area of work for QSA which we are currently researching and discussing with partners.


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InnovationRx is your weekly digest of healthcare news. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.
It’s no surprise that total venture funding for New York-based digital health startups was down in 2023. The latest Digital Health New York report released this week found 114 companies raised $2.5 billion last year, which is on par with 2019 – but significantly down from the all-time high of $9 billion in 2021. But DHNY’s cofounder and CEO Bunny Ellerin told Forbes she was surprised by the digital health community’s outlook for the year ahead. “The group seems quite resilient,” she said. “And they're more optimistic about `24 than they were about `23.”
Only 39 percent of the 100 founders, investors, payers and providers surveyed said they were concerned about the economic environment negatively impacting business in 2024, compared to nearly half of the group who said they were concerned in 2023. A whopping 28 percent of people surveyed said they were not concerned at all, compared to 9 percent in 2022. The top three challenges in the year ahead were sales and business development, funding and hiring.
Another trend that tracks with the overall venture market is a shift towards more funding for early stage companies. In 2023, 55 percent of funding went to earlier stage companies compared to 39 percent in 2022. And when will the market for late-stage funding rebound? It’s nearly a tie between the second half of 2024 versus 2025, according to the people surveyed.
Here's what to watch: “There's a lot of AI interest, but there's also more specialty care plays,” said Ellerin, including obesity, cardiovascular and oncology. She also listed mental health, especially for teens and kids, as well as women’s health. Forty-five percent of people surveyed said adopting generative AI will be the biggest “leap forward” in healthcare in 2024. But the big focus will be on reducing administrative burden. “Healthcare is hard,” said Ellerin, “And incremental changes are important.”
Amazon Pharmacy Layoffs: Company Cutting Hundreds Of Health Division Staff In Latest Round Of Job Losses
Amazon Health Services is cutting “a few hundred” employees from its One Medical chain and Amazon Pharmacy, the company announced Tuesday, marking the latest round of job cuts after a brutal 2023 for one of the nation’s largest private employers.
Pipeline & Deal Updates
Ambient AI: Ambience Healthcare raised a $70 million Series B round co-led by Kleiner Perkins and OpenAI Startup Fund for its software that includes an AI medical scribe, coding and referral solutions.
RSV Vaccine: GSK announced that the FDA has accepted its application for priority review of its RSV vaccine for adults aged 50-59.
Endoscopy Alternative: The FDA has cleared Cyted’s EndoSign device, which collects esophageal samples without the need for a full endoscopy.
Oncology: Novartis has signed an agreement to acquire German-based oncology pharmaceutical company MorphoSys in a deal worth about $2.9 billion.
Bone Cancers: Bridgebio has granted an exclusive license to Kyowa Kirin to market its skeletal dysplasia treatment infigratinib in Japan. The deal includes an upfront payment of $100 million to BridgeBio as well as over 20% royalties on sales.
What To Know About Skin Color Bias In Pulse Oximeters As FDA Discusses Potential Changes
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recently met to figure out ways to make pulse oximeters more accurate when doing readings on darker skin both in hospitals and at home, after research showed wrong readings led to treatment delays, particularly among Black patients.
Other Healthcare News
Rite Aid completed the sale of its Elixir pharmacy benefit management company MedImpact Healthcare Systems for $576.5 million.
Eli Lilly shares jumped this week after the company reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results as it rolls out weight loss drug Zepbound. Meanwhile, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk said it will boost U.S. supplies of Wegovy, which could help mitigate shortages.
A study released this week suggested Mounjaro and Zepbound might significantly reduce blood pressure.


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It’s the end of an era: Honker’s Ale, one of the original Goose Island flagship beers dating back to the late 1980’s, will no longer be seen on store shelves or non-Goose-outlet tap handles around Chicago or beyond.
According to reports from distributors and retailers, we’ve learned the beer is no longer available via any regular distribution channels at all. Production at the Anheuser-Busch plants in New York and Colorado (where much of Goose’s production moved after the 2011 sale) ended in 2016, but was shifted back to Chicago. Now we understand it’s not being brewed at the Fulton Avenue facility either.
These distributor tips were confirmed via a statement from Goose Island president Todd Ahsmann via their PR agency, which clarified that the beer is not being completely discontinued — Honker’s will continue, “and you can find it at our brewpubs.”
Josh Noel’s book “Barrel Aged Stout and Selling Out”* has lots of details as to the origins of Honker’s Ale and what it meant to a young Goose Island three decades ago. Honker’s Ale was “a brown-hued English bitter named by Pat Hall [wife of brewery founder John Hall]. ‘If the brewery is called Goose Island, there needs to be a Honker’s Ale,’ she told John.”
Originally described on the Goose Clybourn menu as “a fine pale ale that any Englishman would be proud of: traditional yeast, malt and hops make this ale a classic on both sides of the Atlantic,” Honker’s was the brewery’s flagship beer in a time when American craft beer was mostly limited to Sam Adams Boston Lager, Pete’s Wicked Ale and Anchor Steam. Along with Old Clybourn Porter, it was one of the original two beers brewed onsite at the Clybourn brewpub before its opening in May 1988.
Until the introduction of 312 Urban Wheat, it was the brewery’s biggest selling beer for a decade. Changing tastes lead to a big drop in Honker’s popularity throughout Goose’s lifespan — per Noel writing about the release of Green Line Pale Ale in 2010, “Within months, Green Line had nearly one thousand Chicago accounts; Honker’s had fewer than fifty.”
As recently as 2014, sales of Honker’s Ale were nearly $3.5M, though declining quickly that year. “Honker’s was a dead style, and sales prove it,” wrote Noel of that year’s response to the beer nationwide.
There are other clues that indicate Honker’s was more or less done for — it’s no longer listed as part of the brewery’s official lineup on their website. As recent as mid-November 2018, Honker’s was still listed as a year round beer (image below accessed via the Internet Wayback Machine):
Today, a review of Year Round, Seasonal, Barrel House and Limited Release beers shows no evidence of Honker’s, nor is it listed in their Archived section. It’s just … gone.
We also haven’t seen any evidence of a new Honker’s Ale label come through the TTB as part of Goose Island’s ongoing rebrand for 2019. New IPA, Old Man Grumpy, Green Line and Next Coast IPA labels have all come through, among others — but nothing for Honkers.
We even checked to see if Goose Island’s new London-area brewpub in Shoreditch was carrying the English-style ale. No dice, per their draft list — though they are pouring Golden Goose, another beer with a heritage that reaches back to 1988.
This change might not mean much to most of us — how long has it been since the last time you’ve seen, let alone actually had, a Honker’s Ale? I’m guessing it’s been quite a while. Sentiment aside, it’s another indication that Goose Island is moving beyond its origins as a Chicago brewery and more fully into an international brand of American craft beer for AB InBev.
If you really want it, and they happen to have it at a brewpub, you can still taste this piece of Chicago brewing history. Beyond that? The time for Honker’s has almost entirely passed.
Incidentally, this isn’t the first time GDB has sussed out the quiet ending of Goose Island beers and branding — we originally reported on the death of their 312 Urban Pale Ale, and also the removal of the 1992 origin date on Bourbon County.
*Affiliate link. If you purchase something, GDB may receive a small share of the sale.


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The pre-market price for Facebook stock is shown, Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Friday.
Facebook, owner of the largest social-networking service, rose 5.2% amid optimism that the company will be able to step up sales growth from advertising shown to users on mobile devices.
The stock jumped to $28, a gain that came after analysts at JPMorgan Chase increased their Facebook share-price target to $35, citing "strong advertising trends."
Facebook is benefiting from growing interest in new ad features that let companies target the more than 1 billion users on the service, many of them by way of wireless gadgets. Revenue tied to mobile advertising should surpass sales from similar spending on desktops in 2014, according to JPMorgan.


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Over the last several years, the awareness and usage of non-traditional financial services has risen exponentially across almost all regions of the world. As fintech firms have matured from small specialized start-ups to include global organizations offering a broad array of financial services, consumers are increasingly trusting these relatively new organizations to hold funds, process transactions, provide credit and offer advice.
According to the Global Fintech Adoption Index 2019, issued by EY, adoption of fintech services has doubled every two years since 2015, from 16% in 2015 to 64% in 2019. For this study, a fintech adopter is defined as someone who has used two or more “buckets” of such services, since this indicates a habitual change in behavior. A bucket consists of one or more of the 19 fintech services included in the study.
The awareness of alternative fintech money transfer or payment services has also risen to new heights, reaching 96% worldwide. The greatest level of fintech adoption is in the emerging markets of China and India (both at 87%), while the lowest level of adoption was in the far more developed markets of Japan (34%) and France (35%).
Surprisingly, fintech adoption is also relatively anemic in the U.S. (46%) and Canada (50%). In comparison, fintech adoption in Russia (82%), Mexico (72%), the U.K. (71%) and Australia (58%) far exceeded North American adoption levels. This compares to the average global fintech adoption level of 64% noted above.
- Consumer Use of Fintechs For Banking Services Skyrockets
- Fintechs vs. Traditional Banks: Who has the Bigger Advantage?
- Trends in Fintech Collaboration: Start With The User Experience
Vericast’s 2024 Financial TrendWatch explores seven of today’s most critical financial services trends to provide a complete view of the current loyalty landscape.
Learn how to enhance your brand’s local visibility, generate more leads, and attract more customers, all while adhering to industry regulations and compliance.
What Differentiates Worldwide Financial Markets
When looking at the markets on an international scale, it is clear that many of the highest levels of fintech adoption occurred in developing countries. Countries such as Russia and South Africa (each with 82% adoption), as well as all of the regions in South America, were markets where use of traditional banking institutions ranked lower and movement to mobile financial applications was less disruptive.
Among developed markets, two different models emerge. In Southeast Asia and India, legacy financial institutions existed, but the markets were greatly underserved. Fintech firms have especially impacted the payments and lending ecosystems in these regions, creating giant organizations and entirely new ways to pay and borrow. Digital shopping, transportation and even micro financing have been disrupted by digital tools offered by fintech firms.
Alternatively, in the U.K., the Netherlands and Ireland, both the incumbents and fintech firms have benefited from more progressive regulations, especially around open banking. As a result, some European digital challenger banks have gained significant traction across regional and global markets, attracting millions of customers since they launched just a few years ago. This has prompted incumbent banks to develop their own fintech solutions and/or partner with fintech organizations.
Fintech penetration in the U.S. and Canada lags most of the rest of the world. This is primarily because the region is the stronghold of traditional institutions and the slowness of regulators to resolve the fragmented and outdated regulations existing in these markets. In addition, there is a high consumer trust factor in both the U.S. and Canada, stalling the acceptance of non-traditional financial products.
“Fintech challengers are looking less like start-ups and more like professionally managed companies with broad operational capabilities, a full suite of products and a global reach,” states the report. “Many of these companies have been through several rounds of fund-raising, increased their staff, created corporate departments such as human resources, accounting and legal, and expanded beyond their home markets.” In other words, in many regions, fintech firms have entered the mainstream of financial services.
Current Fintech Awareness and Use: Opportunity or Threat?
So, is high awareness of fintech services in most regions of the world an opportunity for traditional financial institutions or a threat? Alternatively, is the low penetration of fintech services in North America good news or bad news given global trends?
In research done for the U.S. by Cornerstone Advisors, commissioned by Q2, they verified what many in the industry already know … that acceptance of fintech services is not uniform across all demographic groups. According to Cornerstone Advisors, “Older Millennials” (63%) and “Gen Xers” (54%) have above average adoption, while “Younger Millennials” (37%) and “Boomers” (27%) have lower penetration.
One way to move market share will be to emphasize the services that have the greatest level of acceptance — digital payments and lending services — while also focusing on the reasons consumers use fintech services. (These include ease of account opening, better rates/fees and improved experiences.) A large part of making the experience better is to integrate fintech solutions as part of a traditional offering, according to Cornerstone research.
In other words, traditional financial services firms can turn an existing threat from fintech firms into an opportunity by focusing on building collaborations with fintech organizations that offer the services and experience consumers crave. According to Ron Shevlin from Cornerstone Advisors, smaller and mid-size organizations can jumpstart this process by hiring a Chief Digital Officer who takes on the mission of finding ways to improve the digital offerings.
The Future of Fintech
In the future, fintech organizations will continue to grow, challenging traditional financial institutions and influencing the way consumers manage their financial portfolios. Because of the lower cost of digital distribution and the increasing use of advanced analytics to segment offerings, the level of financial inclusion is expected to continue to increase, especially in the less-developed countries.
Despite the growth of fintech organizations, few will reach the mass scale of legacy financial institutions. That said, with the expansion of open banking and APIs, there will be far more fintech acquisitions and partnerships creating improved scale for many non-traditional firms. While the majority of fintech organizations have been B2C, we will also see a greater number of B2B solutions, especially as digitalization in all industries takes root.
Finally, the use of fintech services in North America will begin to increase, reflecting the expansion of fintech solutions offered by traditional institutions, the insurgence of solutions from other regions of the world and expansion of current fintech offerings as regulations begin to catch up with the rest of the world.


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From our MainFT colleagues six hours ago, a rare ray of light for the UK’s much-maligned equity market, nay, the future of the entire City of London:
UK payments company CAB Payments has raised more than £300mn in one of London’s few IPOs this year.
The offer price of £3.35 a share gave the group, which specialises in foreign exchange and payment services for businesses sending money to emerging markets, a market capitalisation of £851mn. Its shares fell more than 4 per cent in morning trading to £3.20.
The IPO, which was announced in June, is a rare bright spot for the UK stock market that has had a dearth of new listings this year. “Deciding to list signifies . . . the confidence that we have in the UK as the home for innovative and growing global fintech businesses,” said chief executive Bhairav Trivedi.
It’s not only an IPO, but a chunky one, assigning the emerging-markets-focused payments company an overall value of £851mn.
That’s right: a chunky IPO of a trendy fintech company! In London, of all places! Huzzah!
OK sure, it slipped a little in its first flash of trading, but sometimes investors just wake up grumpy and then shake it off, right? Let’s check in and see how CAB’s full glorious debut day has gone.
It should be noted that there are idiosyncratic issues with this IPO. But there are always idiosyncratic issues with every IPO. The problem for London is that everything it touches seems to turn to dust these days. Narratives matter, and another high-profile IPO bombing instantly is . . . suboptimal, given all the soul-searching already going on.
Of course IPOs have bombed before, and ended up proving nothing more than a funny episode along the way to worldwide domination. A one-day debut drop of 10 per cent isn’t enough to mark this as another failure.
But yeah, it’s not great, either.
— Diagnosing London’s listing miasma
— The City needs an intervention
— WE Soda’s failure to launch is no big deal for London


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Big Dark Souls Remastered news for Nintendo Switch games fans
While many games managed to pass the Nintendo Switch console by in 2017, more and more projects are being announced for it.
This is probably down to the early success in sales, which continues to show a healthy market for portable gaming.
A fan-favourite announcement from earlier this year was the reveal of Dark Souls Remastered.
This Bandai Namco classic won’t be passing the Switch by, and will be launching alongside the PS4 and Xbox One versions later this year.
Not only has it been confirmed that the new Dark Souls project is coming to Switch, but it’s also got several notable teams working on it.
The official Australian Classification rating for Dark Souls Remastered has revealed that China-based studio Virtuos is involved in the project.
Virtuos may sound familiar to Switch fans as they were also involved in bringing L.A. Noire to the hybrid console.
As this debuted with some solid reviews and good feedback, it can only mean good things for those looking forward to Dark Souls Remastered.
The Chinese company is working alongside From Software and Polish porting studio QLOC as part of the new Bandai Namco release.
The Dark Souls Remastered release date has been set for May 25 on the Nintendo Switch and will allow for up to 6 player-multiplayer, with dedicated servers.
According to Nintendo, the Remastered release will also include the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, as well as an improved frame-rate and resolution.
No gameplay has been shown yet for the Dark Souls Remaster, although it seems likely we’ll see new footage soon.
There’s also been no recent news concerning any hints of delays in development of the highly anticipated title, which could be just the start of things.
Rumours first surfaced about a possible Remaster project for the original Dark Souls game last year, and it wasn’t the only one.
The same rumours also suggested that Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3 could also be ported over to the Nintendo Switch in the future.
While the second instalment in the series didn’t fare quite as well as the original, Dark Souls 3 proved very popular.
And now it appears it could eventually arrive as a portable game, something that could prove irresistible to die-hard fans of the franchise.
It seems likely that sales would need to be positive enough from Dark Souls Remastered to warrant any further launches for the series on Switch.
The only next-gen console that can currently run Dark Souls is the Xbox One, where it’s available to play via Backwards Compatibility.


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Biggest threat to wildlife: the internet
Some of the world's leading animal conservation advocates say the world wide web has emerged as one of the biggest threats to endangered wildlife.
From the relative anonymity of an office or lounge room, the modern day poacher can now buy anything from lion cubs to ivory, all with just the click of a mouse.
Ernie Cooper, who works with Traffic in Vancouver, the wildlife trade monitoring agency, says the the black and brown salamander with white spots is just one example of a species that has been driven to near extinction by e-commerce.
"They're very beautiful. They're very rare and they tend to command high prices," he said.
The kaiser's spotted newt is also prized merchandise in the pet trade.
"There was one company in the Ukraine that was illegally bringing adult kaiser's spotted newts out of Iran, marketing them on the internet for a rather large amount of money," Mr Cooper said.
"There's no way that company could have made those sales or created that trade if it had dealers just locally."
That one business in the Ukraine claims to have sold more than 200 of the amphibians in a year.
A study by Traffic found it was one of just 10 websites selling the spotted newt, despite estimates that there are only about 1,000 of them left around four streams in the mountains of Iran.
In a vote in Doha at the weekend, representatives from among 175 countries placed the kaiser's spotted newt on the list of species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or CITES.
"What that means is there is no legal, commercial trade in that species," Mr Cooper said.
"That has effectively shut down the trade in and market for kaiser's spotted newts."
Already the countries that have signed up to CITES have voted not to ban the export of atlantic bluefin tuna and not to restrict the trade of red and pink coral.
They will shortly consider competing proposals to either extend the ban on the ivory trade, or to lift some of the restrictions.
But it is the role of the internet in helping traders get around the bans that is a cause for concern among animal conservationists attending the talks.
Paul Todd, a campaign manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, says internet sales are difficult to track.
"The transactions kind of come and go and take place before anybody really even knows it, leaving it to the post office to be enforcing this global regime of trade regulation," he said.
"We tracked over 7,000 individual listings and communiques and advertisements for what they call Appendix 1 species, species that are offered the most protection by the CITES treaty. Over 80 per cent of that, as we kind of expected, was elephant ivory, and most of the rest of it was exotic birds, parrots and macaws."
Mr Todd says consumers may be unaware they are purchasing illegal products.
"These are only partially illegal species. Once it goes online, the average buyer has no way of knowing for sure if that ivory is truly legal or if that bird wasn't wild caught," he said.
Activists acknowledge that problems with jurisdiction make it difficult to catch dodgy traders online, but nevertheless they say existing online supervision is woefully inadequate.
Ernie Cooper says it is time for governments around the world to make the most of the internet's capabilities.
"It makes it much easier to research these sort of issues. With the kaiser's spotted newt, we did the entire study from sitting at our computers in Vancouver," he said.
"That's the good side. That's the other power of the internet. So it's a double-edged sword."


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Infinix Mobile, the premium smartphone manufacturer dominating the emerging markets, have launched its first official store in Pakistan. The Infinix store have opened its doors in Star City Mall (Shop G-29) in Saddar Karachi. In celebration of the inauguration, customers visiting the store during the first three days will get …Read More »
OPPO showcases “Waterfall Screen” technology, exploring ultimate design aesthetics and visual experience
OPPO unveils a prototype device featuring the “Waterfall Screen” design, which has a stronger visual impact due to an almost vertical 88° curved body that makes the device almost completely borderless. It represents OPPO’s innovative exploration of brand-new form factor of mobile phones. It also reflects OPPO’s exploration of full-screen …Read More »
Join the Infinix festivities and get the exclusive chance to win exciting prizes including a trip to Baku Azerbaijan!
Following it’s release, the Infinix S4 has gained overwhelming success as the hottest selfie smartphone of 2019. As the phone with one of the best front cameras ever, the S4 has caught the attention of young photographers and social media enthusiasts. In light of this Infinix is holding exciting activities …Read More »
The local startup to receive USD 80,000 as financial support from the PIDG investment company Islamabad – 26 July 2019: GuarantCo, a part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (‘PIDG’), has pledged to grant USD 80,000 as financial support to DeafTawk. A local startup incubated at the National Incubation Center …Read More »
was initially for 9,499 rupees. Under the new offer the price tag of the Pop 2 is now only 7,999 rupees which gives costumers a discount of PKR 1500! Stephen Ha, the General Manager of TECNO Mobile Pakistan stated: “By reducing our smartphone prices, we want to help those consumers …Read More »
OPPO has recently emerged as a global giant in the smartphone industry of the world. Their latest entrants seem to continue the upward trend of sales in the market. OPPO has made its mark in the Pakistani market by grabbing the attention of a wide range of buyers. OPPO F11 …Read More »
One in Two* People Choose HUAWEI Y9 Prime 2019 in Pakistan Sales data and market trends put HUAWEI Y9 Prime 2019 at the top of the USD 200/- to USD 300/- price segment, making it a true midrange killer.
The market anticipation for HUAWEI Y9 Prime 2019 doesn’t seem to subside as early sales data reveals it is the top choice of people in the midrange price segment. Of all the smartphones sold in the USD 200/- to USD 300/- price band since the launch of HUAWEI Y9 Prime …Read More »
TECNO Mobile is lowering the prices of its flagship smartphone, the Camon i4, in retail stores across Pakistan much to the delight of phone enthusiasts. The Camon i4 4GB + 64GB variant is now only for Rs. 22,499 with a discount of Rs. 3,500! While the Canon i4 3GB+32GB is …Read More »
TPL Maps, Pakistan’s first digital mapping Company, and HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location platform services, have announced a strategic partnership in Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa. Data from TPL Maps will allow HERE Technologies to offer high-quality maps of the region for all its customer …Read More »
Acclaimed destination of choice, Dolmen Mall celebrated the king of fruits, mango as a summer surprise for customers at all three malls in Clifton, Tariq Road and Hyderi. A tantalizing event Mangoficient Treats attracted mango lovers in collaboration with COTHM, Pinch & Co, Pearl Continental Hotel and popular social media …Read More »


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The Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.1, JellyBean update will hit the U.K. this month, according to a statement made by Samsung on the company's U.K. Facebook.
When told by a Facebook user named Lewis to "hurry up and release the Jelly Bean update for the UK International S3," Samsung had this to say.
"Hi Lewis, we can confirm that the Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system will be available on the Galaxy S3 this month. Details regarding the availability across network channels will be announced in due course," wrote Ravi of Samsung.
The carrier-locked variants in the U.K. will receive the update later on down the line.
The rollout of JellyBean to the Galaxy S3 in the U.K. is part of Samsung's second wave of them that started this week.
The company just released the software upgrade in Sweden over KIES with a new official build called XXDLI.
It is scheduled to hit more countries in the near future.
The JellyBean update brings new features to the Galaxy S3, including a smoother UI, Google Now, Offline voice-typing support, expandable notifications, better settings organizations and much more.
A new Galaxy S3 with Android 4.1, JellyBean pre-installed will be launching in Japan this winter.
The variant of the device will also come with a 1.6GHz Exynos chip that allows this Galaxy S3 to function at faster speeds than the international and U.S. variants.
It will be released in both black and grey and packs the latest build of Android software.
The U.S. version of the Galaxy S3 will be one of the last versions to receive the JellyBean software.
The Android 4.1 update for the S3 was finally confirmed for the U.S. earlier this month. The handset will receive it on all five of major U.S. carriers including AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile.


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A travel agency in north London protested about the lack of financial support for the travel industry over the weekend with the help of fellow local businesses in the area.
Authentic Villa Holidays, in Wood Green, says it faces the closure of its shop in the new year if no specific support for the sector is given by the government.
Owner Tara Hawkins updated her shop window to say: “Due to nearly two years of Covid-19 government restrictions on international travel along with lack of government support for the travel industry, this shop will be closing in the new year.”
The government has offered support to high street businesses affected by Covid through the Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG) scheme.
Abta has pointed out how the government has recommended that local councils, which distribute the grants to businesses in their area, should consider travel businesses because they have faced extra restrictions.
The association last week urged travel companies to “reengage” with local authorities in England over ARG grants due to the further restrictions imposed on international travel as a result of the Omicron variant and produced a template letter for firms to use when making their case.
The window at Authentic Villa Holidays also offers customers a “sensible solution” to international travel and a link to the agency’s Freedom to Travel campaign, open to both industry professionals and the public.
The villa specialist’s website says: “We have experienced nearly two years of non-stop international travel interruption, knee-jerk reaction, rip-off testing, a traffic light system that can place a country on a red list in a matter of hours leaving thousands of innocent travellers stuck in resort facing hefty bills to return home before a deadline, unfair quarantine and quarantine costs…the list never ends….when will it end….?
“The fact is it will not end till we the people step in to end it.”
Picture: Tara Hawkins / Twitter


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by: Josh Hawkins
You can't shake a stick these days without hitting a blog post or business rag that mentions some incarnation of brand democratization (e.g., remix culture, collaboration marketing, co-creation, participatory advertising, CGM). AdRants, Business 2.0 Blog and MicroPersuasion have all picked up on a new ESPN/MasterCard marketing campaign that involves consumers in the creation of advertising (via AdAge).
"The marketing program will ask sports fanatics to submit videos or digital photographs and stories of their own sports shenanigans to be displayed on the Web, where consumers can vote for their favorite... The advent of easy-to-use technology is rapidly expanding the number of such viewer-involvement programs."
A recent article in BusinessWeek focuses on the immensely popular Converse advertising campaign, which similarly requests customer submitted video clips to be displayed on a website gallery. David Kiley, of BusinessWeek, explains:
"In a time when consumers can scrub advertising from their laptops and distribute ad-free amateur radio shows online, marketers are giving away some control over their ads. Their hope is that the public will accept them as entertainment rather than advertising. The most successful have found it a way to spark buzz and get creative ads on the cheap."
In many cases, the loss of brand control is not a choice. Consumer generated media tends to intercept prospective customers before they ever reach official, branded online Content, which can get command and control brand managers in trouble (read the Fortune article on the Kryptonite debacle and Mazda's blog mess). On the other hand, savvy marketers are making conscious decisions to relinquish a certain degree of control and embrace this trend by monitoring, participating, and empowering customer evangelists to carry their message.
Several of my own clients have worked hard to involve customers and constituencies in the creation of marketing communications and brand experiences. ChartHouse Learning, for example, has targeted customer evangelists to convey core brand messaging through video clips, and the submission of photos, stories and testimonials displayed on their website. Another example is the Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association who asked attendees of a recent pride parade to send pictures from their camera phones to a Flickr photo gallery for use on their niche community microsite, GLBTminneapolis.org. In both instances, CGM has helped convey more authentic, community-driven messaging, while also helping to achieve a variety of SEO objectives.
The question that inevitably crashes down at the CMO/CFO intersection is, "does this marketing strategy drive sales?" According to Jackie Huba at Church of the Customer, "Of course it will drive sales." She notes the recent Vespa marketing campaign that provides blogs and other collateral materials to customers. She explains:
"Prospective customers will almost surely go online to research the Vespa... and voila! The Vespaway blog will show up in results. Prospects will read the bloggers' real-life posts and eventually become a forum for questions and answers and in a larger sense, the de facto forum for the "Vespa Lifestyle." Just like Harley-Davidson. In essence, the customers become the sales people."
Beyond customer evangelism, the trend towards brand democratization also opens the door for a variety of new, revenue generating models, as a recent Business 2.0 article explains:
"The basic premise of the culture of participation is that any content that can be created digitally can be shared with the world. And, consequently, any digital content can be turned into a product and sold on the Web."
New distribution platforms that take advantage of long tail economics -- i.e., aggregating revenues from niche consumer demand -- will also monetize grassroots, consumer generated media, whether it's podcasting through iTunes or video marketing through Brightcove.


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IAG Cargo reports its Q1 financial results with cargo markets still impacted by the pandemic. Revenues of €350 million were achieved from January 1 to 31 March 2021; an increase of 50 per cent at constant currency versus the same period last year. Overall yield for the quarter was also up 106 per cent at constant currency versus last year, while sold tonnes were down 20.9 per cent.
Following the continued reduction in passenger bellyhold air freight supply due to COVID-19, IAG Cargo reported another strong quarter. Working with the Group’s airlines, IAG Cargo continued to support customers with charter services and a scheduled cargo-only programme. Charter services supported the automotive and manufacturing sectors as supply chain disruption and increased demand resulted in a need for airfreight capacity. Charters also proved to be a popular solution for e-commerce customers as consumers continue to favour online shopping.
In March IAG Cargo’s ‘Critical’ service, a premium product for urgent and emergency shipments, experienced its strongest month with its highest ever booking volumes as demand increased for high priority shipments. There was real variety in these critical shipments with movements including ophthalmic instruments, aircraft parts and a generator from Sweden to Jamaica following multiple power outages on the island.
The business also focused on providing additional capacity on priority routes for customers adding wide-body aircraft to short haul European routes that feed into its main hubs; London-Heathrow, Madrid-Barajas and Dublin Airport.
Elizabeth Haun, Chief Financial Officer said; “We have made a strong start to 2021, building on the success of 2020. Through hard work and dedication, our team continued to provide solutions for our customers to keep world trade operating, drawing on an extensive charter offering and our global network.
“We continued to play our part in the fight against COVID-19, transporting PPE and testing kits around the world and in February we were appointed as an airline partner to UNICEF’s Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative, supporting the COVAX facility.
“Importantly, it was a quarter that saw us further diversify our revenue base with more routes, a broader product mix and charters taking us to more new destinations.”


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3/2/18 – CoStar News - Prologis Sees More Opportunities Amid Disruption in Global Logistics Market
Despite Numerous Real Estate Challenges Ahead, SD Conference Panelists Point to Growth in E-commerce Driving Demand for Innovation in Logistics Space
By Lou Hirsch
The CEO of Prologis Inc. says even the company known as "Amazon's landlord" has plenty of disrupters to deal with in an ever-shifting demand climate for commercial real estate.
But Hamid Moghadam, along with other panelists at a recent conference in San Diego, pointed to multiple growth opportunities for investors and developers willing to make the necessary adjustments. Moghadam is chairman of San Francisco-based Prologis, among the world's largest owners of industrial properties - approximately $80 billion in assets spanning 700 million square feet in 19 countries, with about 3.5 percent of that space occupied by its biggest tenant, Amazon Inc.
Moghadam told attendees how his company has recently 'gone vertical' in developing several highly-amenitized warehouses and other logistics facilities in land-constrained markets like Tokyo and Seattle.
"You have trucks going up like in parking garages - six or seven stories in the air," said Moghadam, describing some of Prologis' recently completed warehouse projects at a March 1 conference presented by University of San Diego's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate.
"But that's our future," he told the crowd of more than 600 at Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. "I don't know if it's going to happen in the next 10 years, but it will eventually have to happen."
The continued growth of e-commerce was cited by panelists as a major shaper of supply-and-demand for both industrial and retail space for the coming decades.
There is opportunity for growth even in mature markets like Japan, where Moghadam said companies are investing significantly in consolidating operations housed in outdated facilities into larger and more efficient ones.
Also, as consumers globally demand quick delivery of goods, facilities will need to be built closer to urban centers, and developers like Prologis must adjust planning for those logistics centers to address limitations including land constraints, and in the case of Japan, seismic and soil conditions among other factors.
"I have not seen the consumer become any more patient over the last 10 years," Moghadam said of the e-commerce delivery influence on warehouse location and planning decisions, adding, "Think of industrial as the old retail. You count rooftops and you count dollars in the pockets of the people in those rooftops."
Evolving technologies like autonomous-driving trucks, he said, could help industrial tenants address neighborhood concerns by running trucks at off-peak times and otherwise routing vehicles in a way that maximizes efficiencies within fixed transportation infrastructures that are often already stretched to capacity.
Thanks to the size of its portfolio and customer base, Moghadam said there will be opportunities to serve customers and build tenant loyalty by collecting and sharing data on energy and space usage, on-site vehicle movement and other factors to help tenants operate more efficiently.
In the meantime, Prologis is in the early planning stages for a financial assistance program that will aid community workforce development agencies nationwide in finding and training people to fill crucial warehouse jobs that many companies are having difficulty filling.
Moghadam and other experts pointed to labor shortages being a key challenge going forward, and in the industrial sector companies are seeing a shortage of workers able to pass drug tests, due in part to problems like the nation's opioid epidemic.
Local developers are seeing technology and environmental trends impact the planning of major projects. Yehudi Gaffen, CEO of Gafcon Inc., said the recent discovery of an earthquake fault on the property resulted in significant but beneficial changes to an upcoming $1.3 billion, mixed-use redevelopment of the downtown San Diego waterfront, slated to include hotels, retail, offices, beaches, an aquarium and observation tower.
The fault area will likely now remain greenspace rather than buildings. He said the 70-acre, multi-phase project could evolve even further - with changes to parking space configurations and passenger drop-off points, among others - due to rapid acceptance of ride-sharing services and advances in self-driving vehicles that are reducing the number of drivers and cars on the road.
Mitch Roschelle, partner and real estate advisory leader with consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), said further adjustments in real estate planning nationwide will be necessitated by changing generational preferences.
For instance, the recent trend toward open, collaborative office spaces may not fly as the latest population segment, the 20-and-under Generation Z, becomes more established in the workforce. That segment has learned to collaborate remotely, and primarily online, via Google Docs and various other web and software programs.
"Office space as currently designed may have to change because there's something that Gen Z wants when they get into the office, and that's a door," Roschelle said, adding further changes to the national office stock may be necessitated by the continued rise of freelancing in the overall economy. More than 57 million people in the U.S., including 47 percent of the 34-and-under Millennials, are freelancing in some way.
The good news, Roschelle said, is that recent slow growth in the U.S. economy has prevented overbuilding and kept all of the major property categories from becoming overheated, meaning developers have the opportunity to address those emerging demands in new projects.
"The slow growth in the U.S. economy has been one of the best things to happen to real estate," he said.
Markets considered most attractive, based on PwC's recent national surveys of investors and other commercial real estate professionals, are those that are attracting young people or have low taxes and other living expenses. Roschelle's list includes Austin, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Fort Lauderdale and Denver.
Those and most other markets still have other disrupters to contend with in coming years.
Norm Miller, Hahn Chair of Real Estate Finance at USD's School of Business, pointed to other issues impacting real estate, such as declining affordability, longer life spans, dropping U.S. workforce participation, decreased legal immigration, climate change, growing government budget deficits, and tech advances including virtual reality and 3-D printing.
He said advances in virtual reality, for instance, with other conferencing technologies could reduce the need for office space required for in-person meetings.
Miller also said three-dimensional printers, being used to automate production of certain industrial parts and prototypes, could potentially reduce the need for some manufacturing and logistical facilities; though Prologis' Moghadam said the plastics, inks and other materials used in 3-D printing will likely come with their own needs for storage and distribution.
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Harry & David Holdings regained its footing during the first Christmas sales season after coming out of bankruptcy, with a big boost in profitability. The Medford-based gift and gourmet retailer said it earned $34.75 million in its fiscal second quarter, a 151 percent improvement over the disastrous 2010 holiday period that led the company to seek Chapter 11 protection a year ago. The majority of the company's revenue and profit were recorded during the quarter, and a $13.82 million profit in the quarter a year ago wasn't enough to pay the bills.
Company executives were confident in the quarter's outcome but see the results as the first of many anticipated successes.
"We've got a lot of high aspirations," said Chief Executive Officer Craig Johnson, who assumed his leadership post shortly after the company emerged from reorganization. "We've set the bar, but we've got a long ways to go. When you emerge from bankruptcy, your thoughts are about more than just the first season. I'm looking down the road three or four years and want to continue to grow and develop the company. We're very excited, and this is our benchmark position."
While earnings were up, revenue declined during the period, primarily because Harry & David closed nearly half of its 122 retail stores in shopping malls across the country. But the 67 shops that remained in business performed well.
For the 13-week period ending Dec. 31, revenue declined 6.3 percent to $245.4 million compared with $262.1 million a year earlier.
The company's gross profit, which equals net sales less the cost of goods sold, jumped 14.9 percent to $119.6 million in the second quarter compared with $104.2 million the year before.
Its pre-tax earnings were $55.3 million, up from $20.6 million.
"We had a solid performance this holiday season from our entire sales, marketing, merchandising and operational teams, exceeding our established metrics and performance goals in sales support, fulfillment and customer service," Johnson said. "Everybody executed and I'm proud of the whole group."
Johnson said there were no surprises after the numbers were crunched and there's plenty of momentum heading into the calendar year.
"When you're on the inside living and breathing it, you kind of know what's going on," he said. "Our inventory levels were in line with expected targets and we had a much lower excess and obsolete inventory position."
Harry & David reported a 3 percent, or $6.4 million, improvement from online sales because of larger average orders, despite fewer visits to its website.
While Harry & David store sales were $20.1 million lower, down 36 percent, than the previous year — same store sales grew 2.1 percent.
In a sign of its improved position, the company had $71.4 million cash on hand after the holidays, compared with $9 million a year ago.
Johnson planned to have a meeting with company employees today, as well as a conference call with investors, to discuss the results.
Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or email email@example.com.


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Boston’s licensing board voted unanimously to approve a Total Wine & More location at the South Bay shopping center, a proposal that had drawn support from some consumers and sharp criticism from groups concerned about the superstore’s proximity to the area known as Mass. and Cass.
Some residents worried about the proposed 20,000-square-foot liquor megastore’s proximity to Southampton Street and the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, which in recent years have become the center of the Boston area’s opioid epidemic.
The opening of a wine, beer, and liquor superstore has also drawn criticism from smaller liquor stores in the area.
“While these are legitimate concerns, I do not believe the addition of Total Wine will exacerbate the issues at South Bay,” Kathleen Joyce, chairwoman of the Boston Licensing Board, said in Thursday’s hearing. “When this board denies a license, our denial must be supported by evidence, or our denial could be deemed arbitrary and capricious and could be overruled.
“A neighborhood’s opinion and concerns are certainly important, but standing alone they are insufficient to deny a license,” she said.
Joyce noted that the public discussion of the Total Wine location was heated.
“We have thousands of signatures in opposition. We have thousands of signatures in support,” Joyce said.
Joyce also acknowledged concerns from neighbors who said they had a verbal agreement with the shopping center’s Washington, D.C.-based owner, retail developer Edens, that it would never open a liquor store there. She noted that Total Wine provided a letter from Edens saying they have no record of such an agreement.
Licensing board member Keeana Saxon said that a large liquor store would not be out of place with its neighbors in South Bay — a large Stop and Shop supermarket, a Home Depot, and a large Target location.
“I think the neighborhood has improved,” Saxon said. “[Security] was one of my worries, that was one of my concerns when I heard the application. But the response was persuasive.”
Member Liam Curran said he had some public safety concerns about the store at the start of licensing discussions, but voted to approve its license.
“I think there will be challenges down there but where I came down was ultimately the challenges will not be insurmountable,” Curran said.
Gal Tziperman Lotan is a former Globe staff member.


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Nov 21, 2013
Outgoing Hermès CEO to get $5 million 'non-competition' pay-off
Nov 21, 2013
PARIS, France - Hermès is to pay its outgoing chief executive Patrick Thomas nearly 1 million euros ($1.3 million) a year from 2014 to 2017 as part of a 10-year non-competition deal he signed with the luxury goods company.
According to the company's last annual report, Thomas, 66, received total remuneration of 1.98 million euros last year and will receive 966,300 euros annually for four years based on an agreement signed with Hermès.
The 176-year-old luxury goods maker, known for its 500-euro printed silk scarves and 10,000-euro Kelly bags, said the non-competition deal was signed on Nov. 20.
In 2004 Thomas became the first person to take the reins of the French luxury goods group who was not a descendant of founder Emile Hermès. He had been group managing director from 1989 to 1997.
A graduate from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris, Thomas was president of fragrance and skin care maker Lancaster group, part of Coty, from 1997 to 2000 and group managing director of British whisky maker William Grant & Sons from 2000 to 2003.
Thomas will step down in early 2014, leaving Axel Dumas, a sixth-generation descendant of the French company's founder, as chief executive, a role which he had been sharing with Thomas since June as part of an agreed transition.
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